Between The Lines
by arysani
Summary: They met when he was to marry her sister - but he was killed and her sister married someone else. Eries Aston walks in her sister's shadow, falling in love with her sister's lover, and remembering with fondness her sister's first betrothed.
1. Smile At Me

A/N: I finally found a way around the whole age issue with Eries/Folken. Sort of. I've always liked this pairing, despite being an Eries/Allen fan as well. But is it so hard to think that maybe Allen Schezar wasn't the first love of her life, even though she gives up the crown for him? And what happens when the boy she had a crush on as a young girl suddenly resurfaces in her life, and she wonders how he could have changed so much? (Besides, you know, being obviously not DEAD.)

Just giving this a try - give me some feedback as to whether or not I'm totally out in left field!

* * *

Marlene just couldn't stop huffing. She didn't want to go to Fanelia, she didn't want to meet any stupid prince, she didn't want, she didn't want, she didn't want!

I stayed silent, her voice carried over anything I could have said anyway.

King Goau was friendly enough, and he even got a smile out of Millerna, who hid behind my mother's skirts more often than not.

"I have a boy her age, actually," he said to my father, and my father raised an eyebrow. Fanelia was too small of a country to marry _two _of his daughters into, but Goau meant nothing of the sort. "He's shy too," he said, clarifying his intentions.

But it was Queen Varie that I couldn't keep my eyes off of. She had that mark on her forehead, and her voice was almost…musical. She gave me a soft smile, and held out her hand, Marlene having been reprimanded not to stomp around so much, and Millerna still holding tight to my mother, and my father and King Goau deep in discussion, she saw that I stood apart.

"Come out to the gardens with me," she said in her tinkling tones. She smiled at me, and I looked to my mother, who nodded, and I took Varie's hand. My sister, in a rare burst of courage, ran after me.

"Wait for me!"

And Varie showed us through the doorway cut into the dense hedges. There were so many trees, so many hedges, so many _plants_ in Fanelia. A far cry from my own oceans of Asturia.

We emerged into the gardens, stone benches in the form of half-circles littered the little alcove, and over by the edge of the trees, was a little boy Millerna's age, hanging on an older boy, who laughed and swung the little boy back and forth.

They couldn't've looked more different – the little boy looked like his parents, with dark hair and dark eyes. The older boy was fair, his hair a soft blue-green, and his eyes were a brighter shade of his brother's – more crimson than brown. They heard us, and the younger boy gave a yelp, and hid behind his brother. Until he saw his mother, then he ran towards her with a grin on his face.

"Mommy!"

Varie let go of my hand and bent down to scoop up her son. He giggled as she nestled her face in his neck, and whispered something in his ear. Then she set him down, and he turned to Millerna and I. Millerna was overcome with shyness again and took my hand and tried to hide behind me. But I was only eleven, and hadn't hit a growth spurt yet, and didn't provide much cover.

"Welcome to…Fanelia!" The little boy said proudly, and bowed once, his hair getting his face.

His brother walked over to us, and reached a hand down to ruffle his hair. "Aren't we the little diplomat?" And his brother covered his mouth with his hands and giggled.

"These are my sons, Van," she gestured to the little boy, who was trying very hard not to fidget, "and Folken," the older boy smiled at us, his face lighting up, and bowed at the waist once to my sister and myself.

"Very nice to meet you, Princess Eries, and Princess Millerna." He winked at Millerna, and she shrugged her head into her shoulders, but he was then rewarded with a tiny smile.

"Hey, wanna see my fort! My papa built me a fort in that tree!" Van pointed excitedly. Millerna, who was shy until someone mentioned a tree fort, let go of my hand and ran after the little boy, who had already reached the tree in question and was trying to explain the rope ladder to a well-versed tomboy of six.

Varie looked back towards the archway, puzzled. "Folken, could you watch them for a moment? I wonder what's keeping them." And she turned and walked back through the foliage to look for my parents.

He smiled at me.

"Are you going to marry my sister?"

This forwardness was met with only a light laugh and a shrug. "I don't know. Do you?"

"My Daddy says that Fanelia has lots of farmland, and that you and my sister are the same age."

A smile tugged at the corner of Folken's mouth. He turned and sat down on one of the benches, within earshot of my sister and his brother, who were now arguing what to call the tree fort, and she wanted to know why _he_ got to be the dragonslayer instead of her.

I followed him and sat across from him, trying to be prim and proper and resist the urge to swing my legs by sitting back and letting them hang off the end. Instead I sat forward, and folded my hands in my lap.

"Well, I'm a Prince, and your sister is a Princess, so I suppose it would work out, don't you?"

I pondered this for a moment. "I'm a Princess too!"

"I think I'm a little old for you, don't you think?"

"How old are you?"

"Fifteen this summer."

Yep. Marlene's age. My father was definitely angling for a marriage here. I may have been only eleven, but I was no dummy.

And he was really nice, and Marlene was so whiny.

"Well that's only four years. There's seven between my mother and father."

He laughed. "Well I'm not getting married to anyone right now. First, I have to slay a dragon and become king! Then I can choose whatever Princess I want, and she can be the Queen of all of Fanelia."

"How big is Fanelia?"

He shrugged. "Smaller than Asturia. But bigger than you might think. There's a lot of mountains and forests that the wolf people live in – we don't want to drive them away, so we only have just the one city."

I pondered this. One city? Palas was large, to be sure, but it wasn't the _only _city in Asturia.

"Why do you let them live there? Aren't they dangerous?"

Folken let out a short laugh. "Hardly. I know some of them – they're friends of my parents'."

I was in awe of this. I did not know any beastpeople personally. Wolf or otherwise.

"What are they like?"

"Who? The wolf people?"

"Yeah. I've never met any."

"They're just like us, really. Just look a little different is all."

I nodded, taking this all in. Same as us, eh?

"Is there a wolf prince too?"

Folken continued to be amused by my questions. "Actually, I don't know. I know they have chiefs and stuff, but I don't think they have a prince."

"Are you their prince?"

"Well, I _am_ the Prince of Fanelia, and they are Fanelian citizens, technically, sooo…yeah?"

I was delighted. "You're a Prince of Wolves!"

He smiled and leaned over to ruffle my hair like he had his brother's. "You are something else, Princess Eries."

"Just call me Eries."

"And you can call me Folken. We're all royalty here," he winked at me.

I slid back on the bench and smiled, my legs swinging on the stone bench.

He was so nice.


	2. Run Away With Me

A/N: Let's go forward a little bit, and meet the other love of her life.

I'm not sure how to write Allen as a young man - when we first meet him in the series, he does seem to be rather jovial. It's only when his past confronts him in all sorts of unfortunate ways (ie: omg I'm a father; I'm still mad my father left me; this little girl looks like my dead lover, etc) that he starts to be Captain BroodyPants. So I compromised. He's still a bit stiff upper lip with the duty and chivalry, but he's more playful. Let's see if it works...

* * *

Marlene had hardly cared to meet him at all, and so was not fazed when he disappeared, and was assumed dead.

My father was disappointed – he had hoped that Fanelia's rich farmland would be part of a particularly pleasing treaty that he would barter with Marlene's marriage to Folken.

And on the heels of Folken's disappearance and presumed death, I overheard people talking about how his mother went looking for him, and had never returned.

I remembered the little boy, Van, now without any parents or brothers. A little tear pricked the corner of my eye, thinking about what if my parents and my sisters were all gone?

And I was sad for Folken. I couldn't quite figure out why – I hardly knew him. But he was nice to me, and he smiled at me.

And I was twelve, and just starting to figure out that I liked it when boys smiled at me.

Even when those boys were potential Caeli Knights, who were my best friends.

# # # #

"Allen, we should run away."

He laughed. "No. Definitely not. Balgus said I was to stay put. No more running off."

"But he's not here anymore."

"Exactly. When he comes back from Fanelia," he waved his hand as though Fanelia was nothing to leave Asturia for, "I'm going to be a Caeli, and I can't run away and let him down."

I frowned, sitting on the fountain, while Allen sat next to me, his sword across his lap, concentrating on getting just the right gleam.

"Allen, what if I ran away?"

He was quiet for a moment. "I wouldn't recommend it."

"Why?"

"Because you wouldn't like sleeping rough, is why. The forest makes all sorts of noises at night," he said distractedly, but my eyes were as big as saucers. He hardly ever talked about it, about when Balgus found him. I knew it was a sensitive subject, and just let it lie. "And you're nearly fifteen. If you were going to run away, you should have done it before now."

"Why?"

"You're too old to run away."

"Who says?"

He shrugged. "You just are. You're a Princess, and you're expected to be a certain way."

"Augh!" I leaned backwards, my hands gripping the fountain the only thing that kept me from dousing myself. "Why do you always bring that up? I _know _I'm a Princess, dunderhead. And the expectations, well," this time it was my turn to wave my hand distractedly through the air. "Well, Marlene is going to be Queen anyway, so I don't have to be _that_ special."

"But you'll still get married off to some Duke or Prince and have to be the ruler of something, even if it's not Asturia."

I rolled my eyes. "Nope. Not doing it. All her life, Marlene's been told that her marriage will be this great merging of peoples or something, and she's _so whiny_ about it. It drives me bonkers."

Allen let out a small laugh. "Well that's what princesses do – they get married and become Queens or Duchesses and they lead their people."

I gave him a narrow look. "Why are we friends again? Because I seem to think that I'm voting for me _not_ having to be someone's floozy and be the background to someone else's big to-do, and here you are, telling me it's my _duty_."

He smiled, but did not look at me. "Because you love me?" He joked. "I know I can get away with it."

I let out a sigh, but didn't argue. _Yes, I love you, you jerk._ _And yes, I will let you get away with it._

Or not. I leaned back and scooped up water from the fountain and splashed him.

"Augh! Eries! This is my _uniform!_"

"Maybe you shouldn't wear it so close to water."

"I was fine, til someone _splashed _me," he gave me a look that threatened revenge. Then he sheathed his sword and leaned back and with both hands, shoved water in my direction.

I let out a shocked breath. It was much colder on my torso than it had been on my hand when I splished him.

"Why you! You keep saying I outrank you, well! How _dare_ you do that to your _princess_?!"

He just grinned. "Because she was asking for it, and it's only fair that I retaliate so she knows that her actions have consequences."

He had me there.

"A very important lesson for a princess."

That got him my own two-handed splash.

Eventually, we both ended up in the fountain, thoroughly drenched, even though it only came to our ankles.

He pinned me down, holding my shoulders down in the water.

"I win."

"Nope. I refuse to concede. If there is no loser, there is no winner."

"I am the clear winner here. Diplomacy suggests that you give in to my defeat, head held high, and admit that you were wrong."

"Wrong? How?" I was very tempted to spit the water that was running from my forehead into my mouth into his face.

He shrugged. "Can't remember." Then he grinned at me. "I still win." Then he leaned down close, and I could feel the heat of his body radiating through his wet shirt and my wet dress. I was going to get in real trouble for this, I knew it. "Say it. Say I win," he said quietly.

"I win," I answered defiantly.

He released one shoulder to splash more water on my face. I spluttered, but did not give in.

"Say it."

"It."

He splashed me again.

This time the water went down the wrong way, and I coughed. He loosened his hold on me, to let me up, to cough the water out.

"Ok, ok! You win. Whatever it was that you won at."

He grinned, and slapped me on the back, the rest of the water spurting forth into my hands.

"You fight dirty," I said sideways to him.

He shrugged, and stood, offering me his hand. "Some habits are hard to break."

I smiled at him, and took his hand, standing out of the water, my dress sopping wet. I liked that he could talk about it now. It took me several weeks of wheedling to get him to tell me where he was, why he ran away, why Balgus brought him back to my father's court, why he was to train to become a Caeli.

But he was my first close friend that I never thought wanted anything from me except for me to listen. And so I listened, even when it meant I had to almost force him to talk.

He confided in me about his father leaving, about his sister disappearing, about his mother wasting away with grief. Personally, I thought it was rather selfish of her – leaving her other child all alone, when he still needed her. But I never said any such thing. Allen loved his mother, and hated his father for leaving her and him and his sister. He did blame her for leaving him in a way, but not in the sort of way he would have recognized, much less admitted.

And I told him about being trapped in the tower with my two sisters, the whiny and the whinier. He laughed, and was appropriately supportive, but just like I never condemned his mother to his face, neither did he condemn my sisters. He said they were princesses too, and maybe if we talked more, I could find out why they were like they were. I just rolled my eyes at that. Marlene was spoilt and so was Millerna. Being the middle child, I missed out on the "ooh, she's our oldest" and "aww, she's our youngest".

My parents didn't exactly ignore me, but neither were they particularly concerned with me.

The day my mother died, it was Allen I went to, even though there were three people so much closer who had just lost a mother, and a wife.


	3. Hold Me

A/N: Okay, so clearly there is more Allen and Eries here than I planned. I guess a long-standing issue of a relationship has to have its say. Welcome to the Land of More Things Your Sister Got First.

* * *

I just stood in the doorway, watching him spar, my eyes red-rimmed with tears that I had cried to my pillow and no one else.

When I thought of who I wanted, to see, to comfort me, it wasn't my father. My mother was ever the tender one, and my father the gruff, distant one.

And my sister Millerna was being consoled by Marlene, who in turn was being consoled by Millerna. The two of them were like peas in a pod, and even looking at them, I felt like I was intruding if I wanted some consolation too.

So I went to find Allen.

Allen, whom I had consoled when he was first here, alone, when I had first gotten him to talk. I never saw him cry, he just was really really quiet, and we sat in the gardens, wedged between the rosebushes, and he laid his head in my lap, and we were just quiet. He said it was his fault that his sister was gone – she disappeared while they were playing hide-and-seek. He was the one who told his mother she was gone, and on the heels of his father's disappearance, he felt she blamed him.

"_All our servants and even villagers from nearby the estate combed the hills for days, calling her name," he said quietly, his hand curled near his mouth, just shy of obstructing his words. "And me too, because every night we came home empty handed, my mother would just look at me, this long, sad, look, and I knew she blamed me. It was my duty to look after her…" he trailed off._

"_It's not your fault – I mean, little girls don't just disappear, she had to have been kidnapped or something, and that's not _your _fault."_

"_Nuh-uh," he shook his head, his hair tangling in my lap. I smoothed it out with my fingers. "Everyone knew my family was wealthy. If she'd been kidnapped, they would have asked for money. And then we would have gotten her back." Then he lifted his head, as though suddenly changing his mind, and looked at me, imploring me to be right even though he had just contradicted me. "You think, though? You think she might have been kidnapped? Then she might still be alive!"_

_I thinned my lips, trying not to give him false hope – it had been far too long for kidnappers to not have tendered a ransom. Over a year. But then I smiled at him, his eyes round with hopeful expectation._

"_Maybe. Maybe she's still alive, and maybe Balgus was training you so you could go find her, rescue her," I tried to let my voice rise with hope._

_He stared at me a moment, and then laid his head back down. "No. It's no use. I know you don't think she's still alive."_

_I stroked his hair a couple of times, trying to think of what to say. "I don't know Allen. I mean, you don't know for sure she's dead just as I'm not sure she's alive. But the possibility is out there, and you can't give up hope."_

_He didn't say anything, just curled tighter on the ground, and my hand moved to stroke his back softly, like I used to with Millerna when she was very little, before she decided Marlene was her favorite._

_He took deep breaths, and I knew that if it was in him to cry, he would have. But he had just been so cut off for so long, he had forgotten how to do even that._

_We sat there for another few minutes, and then I had this eerie sixth sense that we had to leave, lest I get in trouble for shirking my lessons (which I did better on my own _anyway_), and definitely for hiding in the rosebushes with a boy. It didn't matter that that boy was my best friend, my _only _friend, really, and that we weren't doing what I saw Marlene doing with a palace guard not three weeks ago._

_My cheeks coloured at that memory. I had come skipping down the hall looking for her, and had heard giggling in an alcove. I started to creep very quietly down the hallway, and she was standing there, her back to the wall, I could see her golden locks above and below his arm as he had her cornered. I panicked, thinking she was in danger, and then he whispered something to her, and she giggled, and then he kissed her once, twice, and then she put her arms around him, and kissed him some more, and I crept away. I would keep her secret, even though she never asked me to, because I knew Father would be much less than happy were he to hear a palace guard was smooching my sister. Palace guards were not the caliber of man he wanted his oldest daughter to be wrapping her arms around._

I snapped out of the memory, and continued to watch him, waiting. It had been two days since my mother's death, and the whole kingdom knew of it. And yet he hadn't sought me out. I was confused, but didn't give it half a second's thought as to why when he must have known I would have needed _him_ this time, that he didn't come to find me.

He lunged and placed the point of the wooden sword directly under the ribs of his opponent, who then conceded defeat. With a flourish, they tucked the wooden swords in at their belts and bowed. Allen used both hands to push back his hair – they had cut it short, and he didn't have quite enough to pull back like he used to, and it got in his face. We had had more than one practical discussion about the ridiculous nature of the haircut in relation to being a man of action.

The other boy wandered off, and he started towards me, though he hadn't yet seen me. He picked off one glove, a finger at a time, before he got close enough for me to get his attention.

"Allen," I said softly.

His head shot up. "Eries? What are you doing out here?"

I couldn't respond, my lip started to tremble, and I bit it, trying to hold in tears to get a sentence out.

His eyebrows raised in concern, his step quickened, and he came to me, wrapping me in his arms, despite his shirt being more than a little sweaty from his practicing. He stroked my hair, one glove still clutched in his hand. He didn't have to ask why I was crying, he just let me, standing there in the doorway, holding me.

When the tears abated, I sniffled, and he kissed my hair.

"There, there," he said softly.

I closed my eyes and took deep breaths, inhaling his scent. He smelled salty, like sweat, and warm, and the smell of him underneath, something I could never describe, but which always made me calm down; something like linens smell after drying in the warm summer breeze.

He leaned a little away from me, and used his ungloved hand to brush the stray hairs off my tear-stained face. He was very gentle, and concentrated on the task, relocating each strand.

And I suddenly wondered what it would be like to kiss him. I had no idea how to actually bring this event about, so I just let him play with my hair, but I felt it strongly, and surprised myself. My mother had just died, and I wanted to be kissing my best friend.

"Allen," I started to say 'thank you', but he stopped me with a smile.

"Eries, I'm sorry. I'm sorry I haven't been here for you. I've been…" he trailed off, furrowing his brow, like he had suddenly decided not to tell me something. Then he shook it off with a nod of his head, before I could ask what he was thinking. "I'm sorry, is all. You're always there for me, and I know you're sad, and I just can't figure out what to do next." He smiles at me, and I can't help but smile back, my mother forgotten for a moment as I bask in his embrace, being perfectly content to be held in the shadow of the tourney fields.

My moment doesn't last long, because he back away from me. "It's not proper for anyone to find us like this. They could make the completely wrong conclusions." He ponders these wrong conclusions, as though to make up excuses just in case, of how we were not doing anything, which we weren't. Meanwhile, I'm wondering why I never get the chance to be involved in those sorts of circumstances. My choice of circumstance being an upstanding, duty-bound Caeli certainly doesn't lend itself to my cause.

"Allen, I don't think," I start to remind him that everyone knows we're friends, and nothing more, so why would they make such conclusions, when he interrupts me.

"Eries, you're a grown woman now. Things are different. We have to be more careful, no matter how innocent. I know, and you know, that there's nothing between us, but who's to say what some gossiping page or handmaiden could accidentally let slip? What would your father think?"

_Nothing between us. Ouch._

"My father hardly listens to palace gossip," I reminded him with a frown, crossing my arms. Why did this suddenly become about wrong impressions and gossip? I thought I was being consoled by my best friend and…oh. Well. Maybe I was hoping for something that might lead to gossip, but I certainly wasn't thinking of getting _caught._

"Still. I wouldn't want anything to sully your reputation, Eries."

I let out a short cough. "I doubt my reputation is a matter of concern to anyone, much less in a place to even be _capable_ of being sullied."

"Eries. This is serious."

"Serious? What do I care? If you hadn't noticed, I wasn't in the best of spirits, so I came to my best friend, and was actually feeling better until suddenly the fact that I was crying all over your uniform," I gestured harshly to his practice outfit of a loose linen shirt, stained now with sweat _and_ tears, "meant that we were involved in some sort of tryst and now I'm definitely not in a good mood about more than just the fact that _I lost my mother two days ago_!" I finished, and were I not so angry, I would have started to cry again, but my blood was pumping too fast for me to release the tears.

This sobered him, and his face fell, and he reached out a hand to take mine.

I pulled away from him, still angry, my emotions a rollercoaster that I wasn't in any control of. "No. I'm fine now. I don't need you. Go console someone else." And I turned and stormed off.

Little did I know that was exactly what he had been doing, and that was exactly what was everpresent on his mind when he became worried about my reputation.


	4. Tell Me The Truth

A/N: God, will these two shut up? This is not your story, Allen Schezar! At least, it wasn't supposed to be! (Or, maybe, not yet, dammit!)

Also: oh crapmonkey. This story is going to be way longer than I intended.

One Last Thing: I'm not meaning to make Marlene sound like a slut. A tease, maybe. But a good-natured one – the kind that everyone knows can't go far, because, well, she's a princess, and her virtue goes to the highest bidder on the treaty table, not some nameless alcove-partner.

* * *

_I suppose that that was when it started to go badly._

_I still placed a significant value on our friendship, though, and finding out his secret the way I found out most of Marlene's was not the way I should have found out._

It had been nearly a week since I yelled at him. I had felt bad as soon as I could calm down, but strangely, I had not had the time, what with helping my family plan a royal funeral, to hunt him down. And I did not come across him by accident.

Except once.

It was Marlene's favorite alcove, and I heard her whispers coming from it. I was certainly not above eavesdropping.

"I don't know what I would have done. You are so kind, and I…I needed that. I've never had that, and I wanted it so badly…" her voice trailed off, and I couldn't hear what was said next. Then she became audible again.

"What does it matter to my father? I have two other sisters who can be married off for plenty of good, one-sided treaties in exchange for a daughter. And one of _them_ can be the queen. I don't want to. I just want you."

Then there was the sound of kissing, but not the sound I'd heard before, this time it was, well, I blushed. There was no giggling, no sounds of quick pecks. This was the sound of something a little more amorous.

And then I heard a man's voice, the volume still low, and it took me several words into his sentences before I recognized the speaker.

"Marlene, it's just not done. No king would let his daughter just run off with a knight, even a Caeli knight." My suspicions piqued.

"Allen," she breathed, and with eyes as wide as saucers, I felt my chest constrict.

_Allen was in there with my sister. Allen and Marlene. Oh. God._

I didn't stay for the rest, but turned and ran down the hallway, back the way I came, around corners so quickly that I nearly tackled several assorted laundresses and handmaidens, and went straight for my room, where I slammed the door and threw myself into my comforter and pillows.

I laid there for several minutes, taking deep breaths that sort of hurt, and my head started to ache, and then I huffed and decided I couldn't think of why I should care.

But before I could really explain to myself that it had nothing to do with me, that we were friends, that was it, the tears came. Then the sobs, and I didn't know what else to do but bury the sound in my pillows. I cried until I didn't have any tears left to do more.

Once I'd finished with that, I turned to lay on my back, carefully avoiding the wet spot on my pillows, and let out a sigh, trying like hell to objectively reevaluate the situation.

Marlene and Allen. Allen and Marlene. Allen and my _sister_. My _sister_ and Allen. My sister and my best friend. My best friend, my best friend that I…I sort of loved. Sort of? Was I really that upset at 'sort of'? No. I did. I loved him. He was my best friend, and there had been something else I had felt for some time. But it was good the way it was, he confided in me, and I in him. We shared our lives with each other, and wasn't that what love was?

But I hadn't said anything, and he hadn't picked up on anything. And he found someone else.

Oh god, please don't tell me Marlene is playing with him like with one of her palace guards or courtiers.

I buried my face in my pillow again, and, like I'd done so many times before, I buried my own feelings in favor of my concern for him.

_Please don't break Allen's heart._

# # # # #

I waited for him to tell me, waited for him to tell me that he was in love with my sister. It had to be love, right? He wouldn't just kiss _any_ girl in an alcove, right? And what was that they were saying? Father wouldn't approve? Someone _else_ could be Queen? What exactly were they planning?

But he didn't tell me. And he didn't tell me. And he didn't tell me. Conveniently, we had hardly seen each other in a week.

And that only served to turn my concern and compassion into anger.

I sat eating my breakfast with my sister, and gave her withering looks, hoping she would let something slip.

"What are you going to do today, sister?"

Marlene just smiled and ho-hummed. "I don't know…maybe go riding or something."

_Oh, so she thinks she's going to tryst with my friend again, eh?_

"Allen and I are going to the market."

She nearly dropped her spoon, and looked up at me in surprise. "Allen…Allen Schezar, the Caeli Knight?"

I smiled and took another bite of my oatmeal. _Oh, this is going to be fun. _

I nodded. "Mmm-hmm."

"And…how do you know him?"

I narrowed my eyes at her, trying not to let the smile play around my lips. Instead, it shone through my eyes. "Marlene, since when do you care about my friends?"

"I…" she stammered. "I don't. Just. What exactly are a princess and a Caeli doing playing around in the marketplace? Besides the fact that you are much too old to be out without a chaperone."

"A chaperone? Why what _better_ chaperone than a Caeli? Besides," I dipped my spoon into my oatmeal, breaking apart the gelatinous chunks, "we're been friends for years. It's no big deal. Father doesn't care."

This time the spoon clattered against the bowl before hitting the table. I couldn't resist one last remark. "And how do you know him Marlene? It's not like you hang around those men anyhow."

I could tell she was trying not to blush. I knew she hung around those men. The entire city of Palas knew that Marlene had a soft spot for a uniform.

"I..I've seen him around."

"Oh," I said.

_Liar._

And once again, without even realizing it, I had put my foot squarely in my mouth, and encouraged exactly what I was trying to stop.

# # # # #

"Marlene's personal guard?!" I nearly screeched.

He actually raised an eyebrow, as though I were the one out of line.

"Yes, Eries. Apparently your father seems to think that Marlene is old enough that she needs to be chaperoned around – she's a princess, after all."

_So am I. So?_

"And I'm what, chopped liver?"

"Eries, don't be disgusting. Besides, what's your problem?"

"My problem is," I paused. Did I really want to go into what my problem was? "My problem is, my sister doesn't need a personal guard, because she never does _anything_ but sit around and gossip with those contrite little noblemen's daughters, and why did it have to be you?"

_Okay, so that was only partly a lie. I know perfectly well why she needs someone to chaperone her. But why did it have to be you? Don't you see what's happening? Why are you lying to me?_

He shrugged. He was really going to play this all off like he didn't know what was going on. So much for being close friends. How long had this been happening and he hadn't breathed a word of it to me? I felt particularly venomous at the thought of one more person not thinking I was important enough to share their life with. I faded into the background, the middle princess, the one who didn't look like my mother, didn't have her beauty, not like Marlene and Millerna. God, even their _names_ rhymed.

"I guess because I'm still new to the Caeli, I haven't been given a permanent post yet, and…" he trailed off and shrugged again. He turned away from me, reordering the tack on the stable wall, deliberately not looking at me.

I sighed. No more of this pretense.

"I know you kissed her."

He froze, and then began tucking bits of leather around the saddle, as though I hadn't spoken.

"You should have told me, Allen."

That got him to look at me.

"Told you what?"

I let out a laugh more bitter than I had intended. "Told me what. Well, the fact that you were making out with my sister in her favourite alcove for one."

He swallowed, his face trying to decide between total disclosure and being angry with me to throw me off.

He opted for disclosure, and for a moment, I felt bad about what I was going to tell him.

"I…I love her, Eries. She loves me."

I stared at him, and he couldn't look at me. He knew he had done wrong keeping it from me, after all the years where we told each other everything, and somehow he kept this, his biggest secret from me for…however long it had been going on.

And the guilt panged me, my next words were both exactly what I wanted to say, and at the same time, I could see in his eyes that he did love her, and I didn't want to break my best friend's heart.

"She's betrothed, you know."

His head snapped up. "What? No. She would have said."

I pressed my lips together, my heart tearing itself apart with conflicting emotions. I wanted him to hurt like I was hurting, and at the same time, wanted so much to shelter him from it. The only thing that came out of my mouth was sarcasm.

"I take it back, she needs a chaperone because someone has to watch over her, make sure she's kept all princessly pure until her marriage." I was going to say more, something about foxes and chicken coops, but at the look on his face, I regretted my harsh tongue. I tried to make it better. I swallowed my own feelings and said what he wanted to hear, instead of what he needed to hear, or what I wanted him to hear.

"She probably just isn't ready to tell you. It's her duty to marry whomever Father chooses. She doesn't have a choice."

This didn't make it any better.

He opened and closed his mouth, but could not reply.

He slid down the wall until he sat, awkwardly, on the straw that littered the floor of the stables. I still stood, looking down at him. He looked like I felt. And all the bitterness and anger I felt suddenly fled from my body – I couldn't stand seeing him like that.

I sat down near him, tucking my ankles under my knees. I reached out to take his hand, and he let me, gripping it tightly, even while he stared straight ahead, not at me. I bit my lip, unsure what to say.

And so we sat there, hands entwined, and I didn't want anything more from that moment.


	5. Break My Heart

A/N: Okay, Allen Schezar, this is it for you for a while. Are you done now? Sorry if this chapter is a bit rushed – I honestly don't know what to do with a storyline that just runs amok with me…

Also: I don't want to do a disservice to Eries to make it sound like she hangs on Allen's everything. But I want it to be clear that she does love him, even if she doesn't fully comprehend it, because she thinks of him before herself.

Criticisms welcome, because this is the chapter I'm most unsure of.

* * *

He stopped speaking to me. He stopped…speaking.

Marlene's wedding was days away, and he followed her like…like a Caeli bodyguard. There was no smiling or giggling, or stolen touches. He was three steps behind her, all decorum and "yes your majesty" or "no your majesty" and bowing and…it made me sick. Not sick for me, and my lost chance at love, but sick for him. He kept it hidden well, but from one who had known him so long. I saw the tense set of his shoulders, the way his lips thinned and his brow furrowed when he thought no one was looking.

He was waiting for Marlene outside my Father's chambers, and he looked…worried. I could have kept walking – he was the one that stopped talking, not me.

But as I approached, his head turned to face the source of the sound, and his face fell when he saw me. He implored me to speak to him without saying a word. I couldn't turn him down.

"Allen. What are you doing out here? Where's Marlene?"

He nodded his head towards the closed door.

"What's going on?"

He sighed.

"Allen, sighs and nods are not a conversation. Are you going to talk to me or what?"

He put his hand on my shoulder and turned me away from the long echoing hallways.

"Marlene is talking to your father…about…about us."

I wanted to give him a smart answer, 'there is no 'us'', but my wit was kept in check by his expression. And then I stepped back, and thought that my friend and my sister were stupider than I gave either of them credit for.

"Allen. What do you mean?" I spoke slowly, praying that what I thought he was saying was definitely not what he was saying.

He looked exasperated with me, as though I were the idiot who was telling the King of Asturia that he wanted to marry a Princess of Asturia and to hell with her betrothed Duke of Freid. "Eries, I said exactly what I meant. I said,"

I interrupted him. "I know what you said," I spoke harshly, and shrugged off his hand on my shoulder. "I was just hoping you weren't that _stupid_."

"We love each other," he started, and I slapped him.

"Idiot! God!" I turned away, my fists clenched at my sides, trying to sort out what to say next. I whirled on him and he flinched, his cheek already pink from my strike. "Allen, you don't really think my Father is going to give up a perfectly nice marriage treaty because some _knight_ loves her, do you? Do you?!" My voice rose in pitch, if not in volume, and there was a little too much sarcasm loaded on the word "knight". But it was too late to play softly. I hadn't made him talk to me, and he hadn't sought me out, and so he was trying to get himself hanged. Exiled, at the very least.

I stared at him, and had a hard time reconciling the smart, chivalrous swordsman, pride of the Caeli, with the sad, stupid case that stood before me. It wasn't working. What I saw was Allen, my best friend (did I still hold him to that title?) and he was completely naïve about the entire situation. All he could think of was that "love would conquer all" or some similar romantic crap. The real world had taken a flying leap out of his perception of reality. I couldn't figure it out.

All the time that I thought I loved him (I couldn't have, right? I couldn't've loved this person who was standing before me…could I?), and I didn't know he had this in him.

I didn't have time to say more, because the door opened, and Marlene started to run out into the hallway, but stopped abruptly when her eyes took me in.

From inside the room, I heard my father's voice.

"Allen Schezar."

Marlene looked petrified, and, not waiting to keep my father waiting, they only exchanged one glance – she shook her head once, and he hung his, and they knew they were defeated.

Marlene didn't speak to me, just inhaled deeply and walked past me, as though I wasn't even there.

# # # # #

The day of the wedding was beautiful, though I could think of at least three people who didn't care.

The last thing I had done was slap him and called him an idiot. He had not sought me out again.

I heard from a handmaiden that he had been found a permanent post, he would be leaving Palas and going to Fort Castelo.

After my sister's departure, I went looking for him. I wanted to apologize, even though I knew there was nothing I had to apologize for. But I wanted him back.

I caught up with him as he handed off a trunk to be loaded onto an airship for his departure.

"Allen."

The other man that took the trunk snickered, and turned away.

"Eries. You shouldn't be here." There was no emotion. His voice was flat.

"Allen, you must know, you…I'm not mad at you, I want…I want us to be friends."

"Knights and princesses are not friends, Princess."

"Allen, what happened with Marlene…" I was going to apologize for taking anyone's side but his. I never tried to understand, all I thought was that he had betrayed my feelings, but if I never let him know those feelings, how could he have betrayed them? He obviously didn't pick up on the constant subtleties, of how I took his hand whenever we walked, and how he was the first person I went to whenever I was happy or sad or…whatever.

But he clearly did not catch my drift this time just as he had not picked up on those little hints. Instead, he said something I did not expect.

"She told you?"

_Told me what? Told me _what_?!_

"Allen," I started to ask, and apparently he wanted to confess to someone, because I only had to say his name for him to pour out his secrets, despite keeping so many of them from me for the last few months.

"It was just the one time. Just the once. I…I don't know how she's going to explain to the Duke."

_They did something. Just the once. And she was going to have to explain it to the Duke._

_Oh god._

And I slapped him again, without even thinking. Tears formed and slid out of the corners of my narrowed eyes.

What could I say?

"Eries."

"No, Allen."

And he did not touch his face, but neither did he seem confused or angry as to why I'd done it. He turned away from me without another word.

And as I watched him walk away, I wasn't angry any more. I was sad. Sad for me, because I was watching the only friend I ever really had turn his back and disappear, but even more sad for him. If he still cared about me at all, he was losing a friend too, and he had most certainly already lost more than that – he had lost the woman he loved.

There was nothing I could say.

And so I was silent, my hands clasped in front of me, a lone princess watching him board the _Crusade_ and head for Fort Castelo.

When we received the announcement, two months later, that my sister was pregnant, I did not even stop to consider it could have been her husband's.

And I wept that night, for my own lost innocence, my own frail romanticism, that never had a chance to stretch its wings. I was sad for my…for Allen, and I was sad for my sister, but for once in my life, I was sad for me. I really let myself wallow in the facts of my wretched life, of my sister who never knew nor cared that I loved my best friend, and my best friend who never knew nor cared to notice that he didn't have to look so far away to find someone to love. I had been right there, and he never even looked in my direction.

# # # # #

Three years later, my sister died, leaving behind a beautiful, precocious blonde-haired blue-eyed boy. I held him while he cried, and his father let him shed precious few tears before telling the boy that he must be strong, that his mother would have wanted him to be strong.

And the boy sniffled, and said "yes Papa", and stood up straight and Mahad dar Fried looked at him with pure pride in his own tear-filled eyes.

And I knew I would never let out the secret, if a secret it was at all.

# # # # #

It was two years more before I felt so confused again, and I welcomed the respite from affairs of the heart. I served on Father's council, obtained a voice where I had had none before.

For once in my life, people really listened to me – instead of waiting for their turn to talk. I was a person, not a shadow, and the middle princess finally stepped into the light.

Until one day, when the light was eclipsed in Asturia by the approach of an airship, a flying fortress.

And the page announced the visitor who had descended from the large ship shaped like a hand.

"Sir, an emissary of the Empire of Zaibach, Strategos Folken."

* * *

A/N: I know, finally! How will she reconcile a childhood crush with the man that stands before her? And does he even remember who she is?

Now that this chapter is done, the others are waiting! I just had to settle on a way to wrap up the Allen part of her life as neatly as possible before getting back to our favourite black-cloaked Strategos.


	6. The Return

A/N: This is my favourite chapter so far.

* * *

It was the voice that threw me off. The name I knew, and so many aspects of him matched up in my mind – his hair, still sticking up at all angles, was the same colour, though now the angles seemed purposefully harsh. And his eyes, maybe they were even more crimson than I remembered. And he was taller. Much taller, though how much of that was an illusion created by the great cape that he held around himself, I couldn't be sure.

But his voice was so different, I thought to myself at least six or seven times that it definitely wasn't him. I was remembering wrong, something was wrong.

Something was wrong, but it wasn't my memory.

The harsh lines of his face, so completely still, this too was at odds with my memory of a boy who smiled so easily. And his gaze lingered on me for a moment when he was first introduced in the small chamber outside the hall, but it could have just been my imagination.

His voice made my insides drop, I was almost hypnotized. Each word enunciated, the smooth, deep tones like a thick liquid that coated each syllable.

And how my father didn't recognize him is beyond me, but perhaps I overestimated my own wager of how much I had held onto the memory of that smiling boy.

Folken stood there and said that they were chasing a fugitive, that Fanelia had betrayed Zaibach, and so many other things that I was sure were lies.

I found it funny, suddenly, how I was so concerned that he was with Zaibach rather than with Fanelia, that I'd almost forgotten to realize that he had been dead for the last ten years.

I swallowed my amusement, and listened while my father ate up every single word – then again, with a huge floating fortress parked outside the palace, how could he not believe the strange, mysterious man of Zaibach?

Then a page rushed into the room, interrupting the man's list of requests for searching our city, and said that Allen Schezar had arrived from Fort Castelo and was requesting an immediate audience.

"Sir, I believe this is a matter of our own concern, however, should you wish to remain while I meet with my advisors on this issue of a fugitive, you may stay here."

My father rose, and accompanied by Meiden Fassa, his right-hand man, they spoke to the page and headed towards the main hall. I lingered behind, and Folken remained still, his eyes closed and his head tilted down, as though in meditation.

The door closed behind my father and his attendants, and I stepped around the chair he had been sitting in, and cleared my throat.

Folken opened his eyes slowly and raised them to me.

"Princess?"

My throat was tight. What could I say?

"Everyone thought you were dead."

He considered me for a moment, no visible emotion crossed his features.

"Do you think you know me, Princess?"

All this did was incense me.

"Of course I know you. You're Folken LaCoeur de Fanel. We met when I was eleven and you were nearly fifteen, and you were going to marry my sister, because isn't that what princes and princesses do?"

He continued to stare at me. I wasn't sure if his silence was meant to make me talk more to fill it, as though I was uncomfortable, but since he had not said a word, I was not going to keep talking.

"I am not who you think I am," he stated simply.

"Horseshit." I bit the word, surprising myself.

Apparently he did have emotions, because one eyebrow raised slightly. "Princess?"

"I know who you are."

"You do not."

I considered him for a moment, so vehemently denying that he was definitely the man I knew he was. The tattoos and voice aside, it was the same person – now a man instead of a boy.

"You may have marked your face, and ten years can do a lot to erase who a boy was, but I remember you, Folken Fanel. I remember you from the day we brought my sister to meet you, and I met your father, King Goau, who was cheerful and gentle with his sons, and I remember your mother, Queen Varie, with her musical voice and her equally lilting manner. And I remember your brother, Van, who is now King of Fanelia because his brother was killed by a dragon."

Folken's cape dropped on one side, and he flung it back over his shoulder, revealing a glint of metal on his right arm. My first thought was a sword, but then he lifted his arm, showing me the claws he had instead of fingers.

"Do you remember this, Eries Aston?"

My eyes widened and I was without words. A small part of my mind loved the way the vowels of my name sounded in that molasses voice.

He stepped towards me, slowly, and I shrank back, but there was nothing to shrink back to, until I tripped and fell into the chair my father previously occupied. He leaned down to make sure he was heard.

He clenched the claws into a metal fist, and I winced at the sound of metal scraping metal that close to my face, keeping it mostly in check by only clenching my jaw and allowing only one eye to twitch. I gripped the arms of the chair, willing myself not to break his gaze.

"I am not the boy you knew. That boy was killed by a dragon. That boy is dead." His voice was a monotone, but the lower volume gave it a different timbre, and I could feel his breath warm on my face at the same time as feeling the cold of his metal fist pierce the air, however impossible that actually was.

And even though I was petrified, my tongue still managed to loosen to let out a quip.

"That dragon wasn't as good as he thought he was. Because I'm seeing a flesh and blood man before me, and if that boy is dead, how exactly are you here?" I narrowed my eyes at him. I was not going to play this game. I was not going to give in to his veiled threats, I was not going to shut up, not as much as my stomach flip-flopping wanted me to, and fast.

He leaned away from me, and the fist unclenched, and the cloak was readjusted to cover the mechanical monstrosity without his eyes ever leaving mine. I held the gaze, determined not to look away first.

"Forget me, Eries Aston. The boy you knew is dead."

And he turned away, with only the rustle of his cloak, and walked evenly out of the room, turning left towards the main hall.

I let out a breath, not realizing I'd been holding it.

_What the hell just happened here?_

* * *

A/N: Okay, so maybe I'm a little over-eager with the voice!crush. But admit it, doesn't he turn your bones to jelly too?


	7. World On Fire

I just sat in the chair as he opened the door and closed it behind him, and I could hear bits of what was happening next door, but I couldn't move.

It was pretty near to the strangest experience I'd ever had, and it took me some few minutes to slow my heartbeat, from the adrenaline or the fear, I couldn't be sure.

His eyes were what I thought of first. They were flat, and made a very good show of being emotionless; except that I swore he flinched when he saw that he'd made me flinch. I could have imagined it, but I was still trying to sort it out.

And then, as if I'd forgotten it entirely, I remembered what took my father from the room. I'd been so caught up in my curiosity about the Strategos, who I knew was the Folken I'd known when I was eleven, even if he refused to admit it, that my thoughts of the other man who'd left me were subsumed.

_Allen._

I rose from the chair, my legs shaky for a moment, and I cleared my throat. I was always the still one, always the predictable princess, and it would not do to have what just happened playing across my face as well as stumbling around. I smoothed my dress, and took short, quick steps (as much as my dress would allow) out of the room, following where Folken had gone.

He had entered the main hall by a door on the periphery, and I saw him hiding in the shadow of the curtains.

Quietly, I crept up the same lane, peeking through to see what was happening.

_Allen_.

He told of the attack on the fort by Zaibach, who were obviously abusing the treaty we held with them.

And then Folken stepped into the light, and in that thick silken voice, informed him and the rest of the hall of the same things he had said to us in the chamber. Fanelia attacked first, its king was a fugitive, the attack could have been helped if only Allen had given up his guest.

I wondered, as I half-listened to the reiteration, how he managed to lie through his teeth like that. Fanelia was_ his_ country, the king was_ his_ brother – why would Fanelia, that isolationist country, attack Zaibach? Zaibach was obviously the stronger, and what could they want with Fanelia anyway?

The questions raced through my mind, and I heard clearly Father informing Allen that chivalry alone could not save a country, and I peeked, and saw Allen's body tense. He wanted so much to answer back, but even were he in a position to do so, his past with my Father made him hold his tongue. I watched him rise, and turn, and walk out of the room, past me, without ever seeing me, anger and pain on his face. I gripped the banner in whose shadow I had been hiding, and bit my lip. I wanted to go to him, I wanted…I don't know what I wanted.

And I was distracted enough not to hear someone approach me from behind.

"Princess," the molasses voice said. I froze, my muscles tensed. But I took a breath and turned on my heel.

"Yes?"

He stood there, staring at me, and I thought he might have more to say, but instead he murmured a "your majesty" and slid past me in the narrow shadows.

My mind was all over the place – Allen, Folken, Fanelia and Zaibach…Folken. There was something there that I was missing, something I couldn't figure out, and it irritated me more than I cared to admit. Folken was keeping something – from me, from everyone. And not just on the matter of his lies about Fanelia's attack.

Why was he so adamant that I not reveal, or even _know_, his true identity? How could he walk around with the same name and the same hair, and the same eyes and not think he'd be recognized?

I returned to my room, and watched out the window as a black carriage waited at the bridge. I saw the dark shape of Folken, and then I saw him turn to face someone else on the bridge. I could not see the movement of their lips, but I knew they must be talking. _Who are you talking to?_ And then there was an explosion, and I gasped, and then the carriage was leaving and Folken was gone.

I let out a sigh.

Why was I even angry with him? Why did I care he was lying? I mean, I cared that he was lying about Zaibach and Fanelia, but I was confused as to why I cared even more that he was trying to get me to believe he wasn't the person I thought he was. Why did he tell me to forget him?

I rested my chin on my hand, my elbow propped on the windowsill, the carriage long out of sight. I remembered the boy who smiled at me, and I smiled to myself at the thought of his unruly hair and his crimson eyes that twinkled when he smiled.

Then I let out a laugh. _Oh god. Did I have a crush on him? Is that why I'm so bent out of shape? I had a crush on Folken Fanel when I was eleven, and I held out some hope that we would meet again? Except for he was dead, and that was impossible._

_Now it's not_, my thoughts reminded me.

_Well, he is right though, there is something off; he isn't quite the boy you remember._

_But I can't shake this feeling that he is. Somewhere under that cool exterior, he is the boy I remember. Otherwise why would he threaten me? Who cares if he's the long lost and thought dead brother of Van Fanel? This is between Fanelia and Zaibach, it has nothing to do with us._

And I remembered the metal arm, the claw, and how his voice, which I was so distracted from because then he was walking towards me, and then those sharp metal fingers were right by my face, there had been emotion in his voice, and I was just too scared to hear it. Or was I making it up, was I remembering it differently than it was?

"_Do you remember this, Eries Aston?" His voice was a harsher whisper when he said the word 'this'. And he had stared at me, so steadily, like he was challenging me. Then he was closer, and closer, and I tried desperately not to sink farther into the chair._

"_That boy is dead."_

And when he had said to forget him, had there been a bit of sadness in that voice then?

I didn't get a chance to entertain another thought, because there was a knock at my door.

I beckoned the person to enter.

"Princess," my handmaiden bowed slightly, and informed me that my presence was requested at dinner that evening, in the royal dining hall.

I nodded to her, but my back twitched, remembering those chairs.

# # # # #

At dinner, Allen finally had to look at me.

But it was only the briefest of glances, before my sister Millerna commandeered his attentions.

My stomach churned at the thought of another of my sisters throwing herself at him.

"Allen, Millerna has been betrothed to Lord Meiden's eldest son."

Millerna was furious with me, but Allen took it in stride. In fact, I saw with relief, that he seemed genuinely happy for her. But it had been many years since I knew Allen Schezar, and I was in no place to judge.

So I followed him after dinner, meaning to speak to him. There was now no friendship to lose over confronting him, like there had been with Marlene. But I would not have a repeat of what happened five years ago. Some part of me still cared for Allen, and despite our differences, I cared for Millerna.

Marlene had grown to love her husband, and while she never spoke of Allen in her letters, I knew it weighed on her that she had never given a thought to the Duke in her tryst with Allen.

I would not give Millerna the chance to live with that sort of regret.

I followed him to the guest quarters, and I watched him for a few moments, watching the strange handmaiden sleep.

"Allen."

"Princess Eries. Can I help you Princess?"

"Stop leading Millerna on." He opened his mouth as though to rebuke me, but I did not give him the chance. "I know that Millerna is still infatuated with you. But you…you're just replacing Marlene with her. Millerna's growing to be more and more like Marlene. It may be natural for you to see her in Millerna, but she's not Marlene. I don't want to see Millerna hurt. It's always the _woman _who ends up being hurt!" I surprised myself with that, not realizing when I had brought myself into it. I was hardly thinking of my sisters.

"I will never fall in love again," he said softly.

My gaze went to the girl on the bed, the handmaiden with the short hair and the short dress.

And I didn't believe him.

"Liar," I said to his face, and I ran out of the room before I did anything else so stupid.

# # # # #

When my father was summoned to the flying fortress, I asked to go with him.

He took my shoulder, and shook his head.

"No, Eries. I do not know what we will find on that ship. I do not want you to be in danger."

I wanted to tell him that Folken would never hurt him or me, but I saved those words. He was clearly not thinking of just one man.

So I waited for him, alone, while Palas burned.

* * *

A/N: Dammit. I swear this was not supposed to be an Allen/Eries fic. It's just taking awhile to get to where Eries and Folken can have any sort of repartee.


	8. The Dream

A/N: Short chapter, but I needed a bridge of sorts. These "bridge" chapters kill me. I have several more written, just had to figure out how to get there. So I worked backwards a bit.

* * *

In my restlessness, I could barely sleep.

A few doors down, my father lay in his bed, worried sick about my sister, who had escaped in the night nearly a week ago.

I had begged her to stay, but she insisted that she loved Allen, and she was going after him. I could do nothing to dissuade her.

And so I watched with a heavy heart as the tiny boat made its way through the dark channels.

I dreamt about that night, about letting her go.

I dreamt about her, and…about Allen.

_He was in Marlene's arms, held Millerna in his. And that girl, Hitomi Kanzaki._

_I ran away from them, the tears streaming down my cheeks._

_And ran straight into Folken._

_But it wasn't the Folken I had met a few weeks ago, but neither was it the Folken I knew when I was young. He was something in between._

_And I was no longer the twenty-one years I was now. I was younger, and so was he, and I didn't seem to pay it any attention._

"_Eries!" He laughed as I ran smack into him. He held me by the shoulders and looked down at me. "Whatever is the problem?"_

_And I looked up at him, and my lip trembled, and I buried my face in his shirt, and cried. He pulled me into his embrace, and held me, laying his cheek on my head. He ran his hand up and down my back, ever so gently, making soft shushing noises._

"_Eries, what's wrong? You can tell me."_

_I sniffled. "Allen, he doesn't love me."_

_He held me away from him for a moment, and with one thumb wiped a tear from my cheek. "Of course he does. Who wouldn't love you?"_

"_No one ever says it. I'm alone, Folken. No one ever says it."_

"_I love you, Eries," he said with a sad smile, and he just looked into my eyes, in this light they were a purply-red, like mulberries. I stared back at him, at his sad smile._

_Then he pulled me to him, gingerly, and my heart raced. He closed his eyes, and bent his head towards mine, and for a moment I was confused. What was going on? Then I closed my eyes, and tilted my head up to his._

_His lips met mine, and it sent a rush of prickles across my face, into my hair, down my spine, to my hands, which trembled as I held them away from our bodies, unsure what to do next._

_He pulled back from me, and I inhaled deeply, and opened my eyes. His eyes were twinkling, and I couldn't help but smile. I laid my head on his chest, and I was happy._

"Princess! Princess! A ship, Princess!" A handmaiden shook me awake, and I saw the fright in her face.

"What?" I threw back the covers, and reached for my dressing gown. I stood, and pulled it around my body, tying a knot at the waist.

"Your sister, Princess. Princess Millerna has returned!"

I stared at her for a moment, my mouth agape, before telling her to fetch me proper clothes.

So. She's back. And who comes back with her?

I touched my lips briefly, the sensation from my dream still echoing there.

_What is going through your head?_

_I…I don't know._


	9. Eclipse

A/N: Longer chapter this time. Hope I'm still keeping your interest, even if this story is mutating a bit (ok, a lot) from what I started with!

* * *

I stood with my father, watching Millerna and Dryden's barges appear between the doors, closer and closer to the dock. I even let a small smile tug at the corner of my mouth.

I liked Dryden. He was funny and impeccably well-humored for a merchant. The considerable difference between him and his father pleased me as well. I was sure Millerna would be happy, if she would only give him the chance.

And he was a romantic.

"_Eries, she's hardly spoken to me since we've returned. Actually," he scratched his head in thought, "she hasn't spoken to me except in passing. And she calls me _Lord _Dryden. I hate that. It's so…formal. I don't think she likes me."_

_I tried to lighten his mood with a smile. "Who wouldn't like you?"_

_He laughed, stepping forward, and took me in his arms and dipped me. He raised an eyebrow, and I let out a giggle. "So…you like me, eh? How about, you and me…" He waggled his eyebrows at me, and we shared a laugh before he let me go._

"_Alas, my heart is given to another, my dear Eries," he put a hand to his chest, and closed his eyes briefly._

_I tried to wipe the smile from my face and reply accordingly. "Oh Dryden, I suppose I will have to live without you then."_

_And I realized I hadn't laughed so much in ages._

_When we both had calmed down, he sat, and gestured to me to do the same._

"_Honestly, though, Eries. What am I going to do? Everything would have been fine, I was going to wait, you know, until…until she was older, but…and then she showed up on my ship, and…Eries, she's beautiful."_

_A part of me winced, hearing one more man call my sister beautiful. But I didn't let it show. "Dryden, she doesn't know what she wants. But I know what's good for her."_

_He looked skeptical. "_You _know what's good for her? Don't you think she should?"_

_I shook my head once. "She's confused. I know she…she doesn't hate you."_

"_Hmm." He studied me. "That's not 'she loves you, Dryden' or even 'she _likes _you, Dryden'."_

"_Let me talk to her, I know I can get through to her. Your charms have already made her second-guess herself once." I stood, and he continued to slouch in the chair, his hand at his mouth, pensive. _

"_Eries, not that I don't appreciate your help, but I can't be charming all the time. And…and I don't really want anyone to _force _her into marrying me. I...I think I'm in love with her, Eries, and it would break my heart to think she wasn't, and I had…I had _trapped_ her…"_

_I turned and put a hand on Dryden's shoulder._

"_Don't worry. I think there's hope for you yet," I said, and gave him a smile. "And what's this about not being charming all the time? Liar."_

_While the smile he returned to me wasn't bright and full, it was at least an attempt to believe me, and for that, I was thankful._

It took relatively little pressing, on my part. I simply asked Millerna to give him a chance. And Dryden handled the rest. He was courteous, and gave her her space, but he also made it clear how he felt.

There were flowers from him in her room every morning when she awoke, and little notes under her plates at breakfast and dinner. I had watched her as even tiny smiles tugged the corner of her mouth, finding little bits of paper tucked beneath her meals.

"_He loves you, you know."_

_She didn't look at me. "I know, Eries. It's just…"_

"_Allen?"_

_She whirled on me, like it was some sort of secret, like we weren't supposed to speak of it._

"_What do you mean?"_

_I snorted lightly. "Millerna, you have been hanging on the coattails of that Caeli since you were twelve. Father will never let you marry him, and…" I swallowed, _did I really want to say this?_ "I don't think he's in love with you, Millerna. Dryden very much is."_

_She looked like she was going to cry, her hands clasped under her chin, and her lip trembling._

"_Eries, I…I love him."_

"_So you've said. But does he love you? Millerna," and I debated with myself whether or not I should reveal what I knew of Allen's character, what I knew of his love. Then decided not to. It had no bearing on this. I wasn't going to trick her. I took a step towards her, and took her hands in mine. I took a deep breath and continued. "Millerna, Dryden loves you. He wants nothing more than to be your husband, and he doesn't want to push you, he wants you to love him. He would support your medical studies…"_

"_He would?"_

_I laughed. "Don't you pay any attention? He thinks it's interesting that you want to be a doctor."_

"_He does?" Her voice climbed in pitch as these revelations continued to surprise her. She looked away from me, at the floor, and I realized she knew nothing of him. If only she would talk to him…_

"_Strange, I know. I can't fathom why. But can't you see? He wants you to be happy, and if that means your pursuit of your medicine, then so be it." My voice softened, and I tilted her head up to look at me. "Talk to him, Millerna. He's a good man, he would make you a fine husband."_

_She nodded at me once, and I left, hoping at least some of what I had said had gotten through._

As I watched them disembark from their barges and walk towards the priests, I hoped that she was happy.

But their happiness was not to last long, because the shadow of Zaibach found us again, and the ship shaped like a hand shimmered into sight, blocking out the sun.

The melefs were dispatched, but in some cruel twist of fate, they could not fight. Two flying melefs appeared, and the walls came crumbling down.

I huddled near my father, and yelled at the nearest guards to get him out of there. They yelled for me to follow them, and I looked one last time behind me, as a white dragon appeared to challenge the other two.

Then we hustled down the stairwell, and I prayed my sister was safe.

We ducked out a doorway, and there was no sign of my sister, but then I heard his voice. It echoed off the piles of rubble.

"Hitomi Kanzaki," he said, and my eyes were suddenly pricked by tears.

"Folken…why?"

"Princess! Come quickly!" And I was ushered through another doorway, and down another set of stairs.

* * *

A/N: The Dryden & Eries scene surprised me too. But I liked it, even as it was going down on the page. I had to come up with some way to get Millerna to marry Dryden. It's probably the most vague part in the entire series - why does she agree? And despite her growing maturity, I never thought she made the decision entirely on her own. But I didn't want it to be forced, either. So I put Eries on the case.

Don't worry, more Eries/Folken the next time around!


	10. Asylum

A/N: Split this one up into two chapters - this one is the shorter, but I felt it was the best place to sever it. But worry not - just because you get three chapters now doesn't mean you have to wait long! Hope to have at least one more up before tomorrow...

* * *

There was no chance to speak to him before he entered the Prince Regent's office and asked for asylum.

_Escaped death again, did you?_

Dryden looked down his nose at the man, his glasses sliding into place, and it was clear that he wasn't sure what to make of the man kneeling before him.

"You say you have information that can bring down Zaibach?"

Folken rose to face the Prince Regent. "Dornkirk. He is Zaibach's emperor. I know what he plans."

Dryden considered him.

"And what is your plan, exactly?"

Folken raised his eyebrows, obviously not expecting an equal when it came to quickness of tongue.

"I want nothing more than peace in Gaea."

"But as you say, that is Dornkirk's plan." Dryden's arm flew out behind him, gesturing to the ruins of Palas that were just outside the window. "And I can't say I'm particularly enthused with how that's turning out."

Folken bowed his head for a moment.

I looked past him, to his brother, who stood in the doorway, looking most displeased. Then Folken spoke again, and my eyes were back on him.

"Dornkirk believes that a few deaths to bring the end to war are acceptable. I do not."

Dryden stared at him, and did not break the gaze for several moments.

"You will have to speak to the Council. I cannot make this decision without letting them in on it." He narrowed his eyes at Folken, and then continued. "But I am willing to give you the chance, Folken Fanel. I believe everyone deserves a second chance."

Dryden did not smile, and Folken just nodded once, and swept out of the room, his brother stepping aside and not once making eye contact with him.

I nodded to Dryden and excused myself, calmly leaving the office moments after Folken had departed.

His form retreated down the hallways, and I looked around quickly before calling his name.

"Folken!" I said diminutively into the empty space.

He stopped, but he did not turn to face me. I hesitated, on unfamiliar ground. What was I intending on saying? What was I intending at all?

I still hadn't decided when I walked slowly towards him.

I stood just behind him, in his periphery, and part of me wanted to reach out a hand to touch his arm, but the rest of me said that it wouldn't do to be so informal.

_And that tone of voice when you said his name wasn't informal?_

I didn't know what to say then. For the second time in my life, none of this was pre-planned, no possible outcomes analyzed. I was speechless.

He turned slightly to face me.

"Eries."

I looked up at him, and considered his face. So much was still the same – the harsh lines of deep and long-lived pain, that tattoo – the teardrop that I wanted to reach up and brush away.

_You want to what? This isn't your dream, you stupid girl!_

But the eyes – the eyes were different this time. Their toneless gaze when last I had encountered him, when he was an emissary of Zaibach, was gone. Instead he looked conflicted, saddened, and even a bit confused.

But that's where the emotion ended. The set of his mouth, his shoulders, betrayed no such weaknesses.

I opened my mouth, my reply never sinking into my conscious thought, simply flooding out.

"Folken, what happened? To your ship? I thought…I thought you were dead."

I pressed my lips together, surprised that I had revealed so much simply because he had looked at me and said my name.

"Why…why did you…why did you attack us?"

_Unfamiliar territory doesn't even begin to cover this. What are you getting into Eries Aston?_

He looked away from me, and his stare was not towards anything but empty space. He closed his eyes slowly, and his mouth tightened.

_What are you remembering?_

And like everything else that had happened in the last few minutes, I surprised myself again. My hand, of its own volition, rose to his face and I held his cheek, and gently turned his face back to me.

He flinched, and his eyes flew open, his shoulders rising with the tensing of his muscles. But he did not hinder my efforts to turn him towards me.

And I saw his eyes were imploring in their saddness, and I wondered if he even knew how to cry.

"Princess, don't," he managed to whisper, and his good hand rose from his side and took mine, still holding his face.

He held my hand for a moment, and just stared into my eyes, before pulling it down from his face, and letting it go. His human hand, seemingly so naked in its unadornment, looked so strange without his cloak. He had draped a bit of cloth around his neck and over his shoulder, covering the mechanical arm.

"Folken, talk to me," I said to him, searching his face for some indication of what was going through his mind. All I found was sorrow.

He turned his face away from me. "We're not children anymore, Princess," he said, and walked away, leaving me standing there in the hallway, watching him disappear into the corridors.

_No. No we're not._

# # # # #

I stayed out of his way for the next couple of days – I couldn't decide what to tell myself that I was doing.

_What do you care about him?_

_He needs…someone._

_And that someone is you?_

_I don't know._


	11. The Wind

A/N: It goes without saying that I do not own Escaflowne or any of its characters. The poem, however, is mine.

* * *

When I saw him walking towards the gardens, I started to follow him.

He stopped suddenly, and stood in the shaft of sunlight that penetrated the promenade around the castle.

I stepped back into the shadows. I didn't know what I wanted to say, and so I didn't want him to see me, not yet.

He turned and faced the sunlight, and raised his hands, both of them, tilting his head backwards, his eyes closed.

I watched him from behind a pillar, worshipping the sun that shone on his face.

He stood there for several minutes, completely still, before the marching sound of palace guards broke his reverie. He let his hands fall to his sides, the mechanical arm hidden again under the cream-colored cloth. I watched his chest rise and fall with a deep inhalation, and then he turned and went on his way.

I couldn't keep following him. I felt wrong, filthy, almost, having seen that moment, which was obviously very personal. I bit my lip and stared at my feet, emerging from the shadow behind the pillar. His form grew smaller and smaller.

I turned and went back the way I had come, but not without glancing backwards, just the once, to be sure he was still there.

# # # # #

The next time we met, it was he who found me.

So rarely did I let my guard down enough to relax. I found a window seat in the library, towards the back, where no one would find me unless they were particularly interested in Ezgardian philosophy.

I leaned against the casing, my legs bent so that I could almost tuck my feet under me. My shoes had been casually flipped off, so that just my stocking feet could be seen peeking out from my dress.

I had been reading something completely frivolous – Draconian poetry. One of the few volumes that survived after most of the remaining Draconians were hunted down and slaughtered centuries ago. It had been rebound numerous times, and the pages showed the sign of many licked fingers turning them at the corners.

The setting sun was warm on my face, and I leaned my head back, closing my eyes, my index finger holding my place in the tome on my lap.

"Princess Eries." His deep dusky tone snapped me out of my reverie, and I dropped my book. I turned my head quickly to see him standing just two rows down, facing me.

"Folken," I managed to get out, before pulling my dress out from under me, and making to swing my legs over the seat and back into my shoes.

I had my legs unfolded, but my feet never got back into my shoes.

He took three long strides to me, and put his hand on my knee.

I froze, and he pulled his hand back as though he burned himself, and cleared his throat. "My apologies, Princess." He looked at the floor, not at me.

I opened my mouth, but faltered. "No, I…"

"I did not mean to disturb you, Princess. Please. Do not leave on my account. I will leave," he said, and looked at me once, quickly, before turning to do exactly that.

I rose, still in my stocking feet, and reached out for his elbow. The nearest one was the one of metal. I felt it through the fabric, and pulled my hand away as fast as he had from me moments earlier.

He turned back to face me.

"You…you don't have to leave…Folken."

He looked at me for a moment, and then took a step past me, and bent down to pick up my book. His eyes scanned the page it had fallen open to, and I could have sworn he almost smiled before he remembered himself, and held the book out to me, keeping its place.

"Th-thank you," I said, and took the book from him, putting my hand into the place he held for me, brushing his fingers as I took the book from him.

He looked at the book, now at my side, and was quiet. I stood as still as I could, trying not to scare away whatever this moment was.

"Poetry of the Draconians?" He asked, not looking at me.

"Mm." I replied with a curt nod. I stared at him, and his eyes met mine.

We held each other's gaze, and I felt that I must have been holding my breath.

He broke the gaze, seemingly not able to look at me when he spoke. "My…my mother, she…used to read us poetry, Van and I, when we…were young." He spoke slowly, carefully, and then his gaze was beyond me, to a point somewhere above and behind my head.

I looked to where he was looking, quickly, and he dropped his gaze.

We were at an impasse – neither of us could think of something to say, yet neither of us was leaving either.

I brought the book up, and held the spine in one hand while I flipped the pages.

"I…I think this one is my favorite." I held the book out to him, and he reached out to take it in his good hand, watching me.

With the book in his grasp, he looked down at the translated words on the page.

And it seemed that he could not help the smile which widened his mouth ever-so-slightly. He parted his lips and recited softly.

"_Beneath, between_

_my skin, my fingers_

_eyes shut, red behind the lids_

_she whispers _

_to me of the mountains_

_while she makes the wheat sing."_

He looked up at me. I had been listening to him, watching him, and he held the book back out to me. I took it with both hands this time, one on the bottom, one on the top, holding it open, and held the tips of his fingers between the page and my own.

He swallowed audibly and pulled his hand from the book, but this time he did not look away from me.

Then he nodded to me, and bowed at the waist. "Princess," he said, and turned away from me.

"You can call me Eries," I said, and my words came unbidden, his head turned so I could see his profile. "We're all royalty here," I said quietly.

"Indeed," he replied, and walked away.

* * *

A/N: I meant for that second part to take place after he'd spoken to Hitomi, who told him that "people return your feelings" - perhaps giving him that extra little bit of courage to speak into the silences. And I hope I'm keeping Eries in character - so composed, but we know there are things that break that composure, and I always hoped such a crack didn't always mean she ran from the room in tears. Hopefully a little bit of guts isn't so far-fetched.


	12. Secrets

A/N: Skipping forward a bit...Allen's back!

* * *

When the note arrived from Allen, I was baffled.

He hadn't spoken more than two words to me since he'd returned to Palas. And there certainly hadn't been a dearth of words since we parted ways after Marlene's wedding all those years ago.

But the last line, "_please, Eries_", made my chest tighten.

How could I abandon him? Not to mention that he had abandoned me long ago. It was the please that made up my mind. He was asking for help, like he hadn't all that time ago, and I wasn't going to turn him away. I was much too old to be playing games, to be pretending like I was still fifteen, like every little word meant more than it did.

He was simply asking me to be in a certain place, at a certain time.

What harm was there in that?

I pushed away from my thoughts the last time we had met in a cemetery – it had been totally unexpected, and I found myself almost cavalier with my cynicism.

_I paid my homage to his mother, despite my feelings that she had done wrong in leaving her only son to go on alone, because I knew that Allen would have wanted me to, in another life, and he certainly would never himself._

_And so it was surprised that laced my sarcasm, taking away its bite._

"_You've never prayed a day in your life, and yet here you are in a place like this."_

_He didn't reply, just walked away from me._

_I couldn't stand the look on his face – I'd seen it before, and it broke my heart._

_I told him that Millerna was happy, and he said he knew Dryden was a good man._

_I watched him leave, and the wind changed, my hair wisping across my face._

_I held the flowers, intending to lay them on her grave marker, and their delicate pink petals twirled in little tornadoes in the crossbreezes, and one or two brushed my cheek as they followed the wind to her son._

_He caught a petal in his fingers, right out of the air, and I remember being awed as a child at his deftness._

"_My mother used to love these," he said._

_I know._

I watched as the breeze ruffled the roughly chopped curls of the girl who sat, in Allen's clothes, staring at the grave marker.

"So she really _is _Celena?"

"Yes. It's been ten years, but I'd recognize my sister Celena anywhere. The poor thing doesn't remember where she's been all this time."

"She's lost her memory?" I felt for the girl - ten years is a lot of time to lose.

"Princess Eries, take care of my sister while I'm away fighting."

I looked at the girl, kneeling over her mother's place of rest, her fingers crumbling the bits of flower I had left there.

"You're the only one I can trust her to," he whispered to me.

I nodded, and my mind was at peace with those words. I neither wanted nor expected anything more – he trusted me, which was more than we had had before.

"Very well. She is the sister of a Knight Caeli. I will take care of her at the palace."

Our moment was shattered by the sound of sobbing, and we both turned to look at the crouched form that was suddenly convulsing over the grass.

"Celena!"

And the voice that replied was not the dulcet tones I would have expected from a fifteen year old girl.

"Celena?" And her eyes, once Schezar blue, now turned a mulberry purple-red.

"Are you a Doppleganger?"

And then it screamed.

"Jajuka! Jajuka!"

Allen's arm protected me from whatever was coming, but he did not have the presence of mind to draw his sword against his sister.

Then she, no _he_, turned on us, and Allen's face fell. He recognized the person who stood before us, and it wasn't his sister.

A guymelef shimmered into our sight, and an arm was lowered, and he made one last exclaimation of "Jajuka!" as the melef picked him up.

"Dilandau!" Allen screamed, and my blood froze. "Wait, Dilandau!"

Dilandau. That was the boy who had been responsible for hazing Palas. It was him that commanded the melefs that invaded Freid and killed the Duke. My saliva was suddenly sour in my throat.

_Why did he look like Celena?_

The melef shimmered again, and was gone.

Allen dropped to his knees, covering his face with his hands, and made sounds like were both horrifying and saddening.

I didn't know what to do, so I just reached out and touched his head, ever so gently, to let him know that I was still there.

# # # # #

"What makes you think he'll tell us anything?"

"Allen, please. Just ask him. He's not the monster you paint him as."

He sneered and huffed. "I don't know who you're thinking of Eries, but he is exactly the monster I am thinking of. He is Dornkirk's right hand man! I can't fathom why Dryden is letting him stay here!"

I stopped in the hallway, and he took only three steps before noticing I wasn't at his side. He turned on his heel, looking at me with confusion and a little residual anger.

"Was."

"What?"

"Was Dornkirk's man. He's not now. He's here with us. He wants to help us, Allen."

Allen scoffed and waved his hand in the air. "You don't know that, Eries! Look what he did to my SISTER!"

I gritted my teeth. Honestly, I didn't know what part Folken had in Celena's disappearance, in her…transformation. But I couldn't believe he'd had such a heavy hand as Allen was protesting.

"Allen, you don't know," I started to say, but he cut me off. He closed the gap between us, and looked down at me, his features furrowed. At first, I backed down, and then I straightened my back. I was a princess, for Jichia's sake! I wasn't going to be cowed by a knight! I frowned up at him, narrowing my eyes.

"And you don't either! Why are you _defending_ him Eries?"

I put my hand against his chest and pushed him slightly away. The closeness was interfering with my concentration.

"I'm not defending him," I started.

_Yes you are._

"I'm just pointing out that you don't know, just as I don't know, what he had to do with all of this! What if he didn't know what was going on? It's possible, isn't it?" My ire began to rise again, and I raised my voice to him. "Just because you think you're the only person with problems here, doesn't mean you can just haphazardly lay blame on the lap of whomever is closest! And that lap certainly isn't mine, Allen Schezar! You lost that privilege long ago. I'm hardly your sinkhole for misplaced anger." My fists were clenched at my sides, and I suddenly realized that I'd been nearly yelling, and he had the decency to look surprised. I took a deep breath. "Don't jump to conclusions. Wait until you can speak to him before you blame him for everything. He's on _our side_, Allen," my voice quieted, and I tried to calm my features. "Please. Just let him answer you before you tie him to the stake and burn him."

He stood there, still slightly shocked that I'd had such an outburst, and so was I, though mildly. While I may not have said the words I wanted to, I had wanted to put him in his place for some time. I just never had the courage before.

_You also didn't want to lose him before_.

_Oh, so I want to lose him now?_

I straightened my countenance and strode past him, towards Dryden's chambers, where we hoped to find Folken.

* * *

A/N: Nothing like conflicting emotions to make a girl get a little snappy...hope you're still enjoying it! Leave me some review-love :)


	13. Fate

A/N: We're almost at the end…I just hope it's something everyone can be happy with.

* * *

"Dilandau? I'm sorry, but I don't know much about his past." He turned to face us; Dryden had taken us to him, and had brought Millerna with him. He had an audience. "But it seems certain that the Sorcerers are behind him."

"Sorcerers?" If possible, Allen looked even more incensed. I had actually been able to calm him down – or rather, Dryden had, once we reached his office. Now, however, that emotion was flooding him again.

"Zaibach scientists, who answer only to Dornkirk himself. Rumor has it that, in order to change a man's fate, they performed experiments on live subjects. They used kidnapped children."

I inhaled sharply, and Millerna whimpered a bit, her mouth hanging open. I stared at Folken, who looked only at Allen.

"They experimented on _people_?" Allen screamed at him, and he looked away, ashamed.

"Celena…Celena, she's…" And his step faltered, and Millerna made to step to him, but I took her hand, holding her back.

Dryden stepped over to him and held him around the waist, keeping him from falling to his knees.

"Come on, old man, let's get some air," he said to him, and gave Millerna a sad smile as he led the Caeli out of the room.

There was a moment of quiet, and Millerna's hand slipped from mine.

"I should…I should go make sure they're okay," she whispered, and left the room after her husband and her former love.

That left just Folken and I, and he had turned to stare back out the window into the darkness.

"Folken," I said, and stepped towards him. "Were you…did you?" I almost didn't want to hear the answer – what if he said yes? What if he said that he had experimented on people, on _children_, stolen from their families?

"No." He was quiet, and I stood there, relief flushing my blood.

"I was one of them, one of the Sorcerers. But some of their ideas," he trailed off.

I stepped to him, and stood on his left, looking out into the darkness. I reached my hand to his, and he took it, lacing my fingers with his own. He squeezed my hand once, and then just held it, and still he did not look at me.

So I watched the moons rise with him.

# # # # #

"Hitomi has returned."

"And King Van?" I already saw the answer in Allen's eyes.

"He sent her alone. She…she refused me, Eries."

I tilted my head in question. "Allen…I'm sorry."

He actually laughed, and I couldn't help but smile. It had been so long since I'd heard him laugh.

"It's…it's alright. I suppose…I suppose I saw Celena in her. I wanted to protect her," his voice softened.

"Allen, I saw it in your face. I know you loved her. It's alright to admit that."

He looked at me, and his mouth twitched with a smile. "You never let me deceive anyone, did you Eries? Not even myself."

"We were friends, Allen, it wouldn't've been fair."

My reply sobered him. "Were?"

I snorted softly. "Do you really think that survived?"

He looked away. "No. I suppose not. But…" He looked back up at me. "But I'm hoping you'll forgive me one day, Eries. I…I've missed you."

I met his eyes. "I forgave you a long time ago, Allen."

He gave me a sad smile. "I'm sorry, Eries. I'm sorry for…for everything."

I just nodded, and we stood there, staring at each other.

"I…should go," I said.

He bowed to me. "Thank you, Princess Eries."

I nodded. "Sir Allen."

And I left the room.

I went to look for Folken.

# # # # #

I found him in his laboratory, staring up at some great piece of machinery that they had dredged from the depths of the _Vione_.

"What is that?"

"Part of Dornkirk's machine. Fate alteration."

"Why does he do it? Why does he try to change what hasn't even happened yet?"

He turned to me and smiled. I was floated into the heavens by that smile. Years fell from his face, and I could almost see the boy I once knew. "You don't believe in fate, Princess?"

I looked up at the machine, and then at him. "I believe we create our own destiny. I don't at all like the idea that someone else is pulling the strings of my life."

He sighed. "Fate has many threads, Eries. Any one of many possible futures could fall into place. Dornkirk," he turned back to the machine. "Dornkirk means to direct which thread will fall into place."

"That's cheating."

"Maybe so."

"That girl, Hitomi Kanzaki, she told Millerna that she tried to make a certain future happen. And it brought Palas down around us, nearly killing her husband."

"I wish there had been another way. A way…without killing." I walked to him, and he turned to me, and enveloped me in his arms. I did not even flinch when the metal claws of his fingers laid on my dress, so thin I could feel them on my skin. "I wanted there to be a way, Eries. And Dornkirk, he said that one day, there would be no more. There would be peace." He paused. "Somehow, I became lost in his grand idea, that what we would bring to the world would be worth those that were…sacrificed…along the way."

I looked up at him, my chin on his chest. "But you're here now. Now you have a chance to stop what you helped start. There's still hope, Folken. We can win against Zaibach, against Dornkirk. We have the armies of Cesario, Basram, Ezgardia…all at our side."

He looked down at me, and then pulled from the embrace. I shivered once in the cooler air.

"More war. There is no war that will end all war, Eries. All it will do is…delay it for awhile while everyone licks their wounds. I am no longer so taken in that I can't see that all we're doing is stopping one man – there are still so many who would take his place – who would kill like he has, in the name of uniting Gaea and bringing an end to conflict."

"We can help now, Folken. We can stop it now. There is no telling what tomorrow will bring."

"You have such faith, Eries. I wish I had that."

"Then do! There is no reason you shouldn't!"

"Eries, I…I don't know what tomorrow will bring. But I know…I know that my part in all this will not go unpunished."

"Folken, you've been given asylum, amnesty for your assistance in all that we're doing to take down Zaibach!"

"That's not what I meant."

I furrowed my brow, confused. "Then what do you mean?"

His look was sad. He pulled his wrap from his shoulders, and then with a deft flick of the hands, unbuttoned the top of his uniform.

I inhaled sharply, unsure what he was doing.

"Folken, what?"

He closed his eyes, and then there was a great sound, and from his back sprouted two great, black, wings. Feathers fell around me, drifting lazily to the floor.

"Folken…what…how?"

"My mother, her Draconian blood runs in my veins." I stared, wide-eyed. I had known the rumors of his mother, but only in passing. I never gave them much thought.

"These…these should be white." He reached up, and one wing bent forward, and his good hand caressed the feathers.

"What…what does it mean that…that they're…black?"

"It means I'm dying, Eries."

* * *

A/N: Okay, so there were two things about Folken I wasn't sure how to address, or if I even could. First was the wings, and second was the catgirls. Obviously the catgirls never got any limelight here – I couldn't see how Eries ever would have seen them, or seen Folken with them, to know who they were to him. The wings…this one I debated for a really really long time. At least, considering how fast I'm writing this, it was a long time. Even knowing that his mother was Draconian, even in passing, everyone else seemed so shocked that Van inherited the trait – so I didn't see any reason why everyone and their mother would know that Folken did too. There was no reason to just go showing them off. But Eries being so hopeful for the future, and Folken finally beginning to trust someone, I felt he wouldn't deceive her. And this was the best way to get it across – the way she couldn't argue with him, if it were a "gut feeling".

I hope it makes sense to someone besides me.

Just two more chapters…(I think)


	14. Tears

"You're _dying?_" While my voice was no longer that of a child, I still nearly reached the level of a screech with my more mature tone. My hand clasped to my chest, I stepped quickly towards him, my eyes drawn in fear. "Folken…what…no!"

"Yes, Eries."

"There has to be something we can do!" I simply could not accept it. I was…I felt something for him. I could not just stand idly by…

"No, Eries." I opened my mouth to yell at him, to stop speaking to me like that, just my name and 'yes' or 'no'. But he held up his mechanical hand to stop me before I could.

"I have known for some time. It is…it is a result of the fate alteration, I think. It is my punishment."

I blinked, hard, trying to keep the tears from cresting my lids. "Folken, what do you have to be punished for?! You came to us, you're _helping_ us defeat Dornkirk! What could you possibly have left to atone for?"

He stepped to me, and took hold of my shoulders. Part of me wanted to go to him, and the other part was so angry, I couldn't move. "Eries. There is so much you don't know. So much I never told you. I was not a good man. There is plenty to atone for."

"Tell me now," I said softly.

"No. I won't. That part of my life is over, but I will still pay for it. I…" He put his good hand on my face, and tilted my chin, making me look at him. "These last weeks, I've been a changed man. And you've been such a part of it, Eries. You've given me so much, and with everything else that has happened to me in so short a time, I've come to realize so many things. I am grateful for you, Eries Aston. You never gave up on me, and it took me a long time to realize what that meant. I never had…after I was reborn in Dornkirk's laboratory, I withdrew from what I was. I pushed everyone and everything away. I couldn't see those that…those that cared for me. But now. Now I see, Eries. Now I _see_."

"Folken," I said his name plaintively, and a single tear escaped from the corner of my eye.

It ran down my cheek, and touched his hand as it held my face. It was soon joined by another, with yet a third poised to fall.

The third reached my cheekbone, and sat there for a moment.

Folken leaned in, his eyes closed, and put his lips there, to my tear, kissing it away.

That only made it worse, and my eyes squinted shut, tears escaping out both sides, falling silently down my face.

He leaned in again, and kissed just below each of my eyes, on the crest of my cheekbones. His lips were still close to my face when he spoke.

"Shh. Eries. Shh. No more tears."

I bit my lip for a moment, my eyes still shut, and then inhaled through my nose, trying to stop them.

Then I felt his lips on mine, ever so gently, and I kissed him back, before pulling away and the sobs that had been threatening burst forth.

I laid my hands on his chest and buried my face in them.

I felt a light brush on my shoulders, on my back, and then his arms were around me, and so were his wings, enclosing us.

# # # # #

He sat on the floor, his back against his desk, his uniform reordered. I sat curled next to him, his arm around me, my head resting on his chest.

"Hitomi was here earlier."

"Hmm?"

"She wants to go after Dornkirk as well."

"What for?"

"She wants to help Van. She wants Dornkirk to stop the fighting."

"He…"

"No, he won't listen to her. I told her I was the one that should go. I should be the one that saves my brother. I…I've failed him in so many ways. I wanted nothing more than for him to be as far away as possible from this sort of life."

"You protected him as well as you could."

"Not well enough."

I was silent. I didn't want to ask, but I knew I wanted to know.

"When?"

"Soon."

We were quiet again.

"Folken, I…"

"You don't have to say anything, Eries. Just let us have this, now."

I nodded once against his chest.

We sat like that for a few minutes, and then I made to stand. He stood as well, and helped me to my feet.

"I should…I should go. My sister, my…father. Our people are out there now. I should…be with them."

He nodded. "Yes. You should."

I turned to go, and he reached out and took my hand. "Eries," he said, and I turned back to him.

He pulled me to him, and my heart began to race. His hand was on my cheek, and we both seemed to hold our breath. He closed his eyes and I did the same, and our lips met.

It was the second time I had kissed him – the second time I had ever kissed anyone. But I did not seem to need that experience behind me, because it felt so natural to kiss him, and then kiss him again, this time my lips parting under his. My arms went up around his neck, and he crushed me against himself, and deepened the kiss.

I was breathless when he pulled away, and I couldn't help but let a grin break out across my face. He laughed, which only made me smile wider.

"Eries," he laced his fingers into my hair. "What did I ever do to deserve this?"

"When I was eleven, you made me laugh."

He smiled. "Your family…"

"Yes." I unwound my arms from his neck, and slid them down his chest, and he grabbed my hand, just holding it.

"You will come back, won't you?"

"Eries, I will come back to you."

I smiled at him. "Sounds like you have a bit of faith, Folken."

"Only what you gave me."

I walked away, my hand slipping from his, and I felt him watch me climb the steps out of the laboratory, and I turned the corner, glancing back at him. He smiled at me.

I couldn't've been happier.

* * *

A/N: It seemed interesting to me that Folken should seem so happy when Hitomi finds comes to him to make him take her to Dornkirk. And I always suspected that Folken knew he might meet his death at Dornkirk's hands. But hearing it from Hitomi's mouth, so blatantly, that drove it home – hence his surprise. And maybe it's just me, but his speech he gives to Hitomi, yes, it was the same he gave to Van, about dying and the black wings, but didn't it seem a little more rehearsed? Like it wasn't even the second time he went over it. It was, perhaps, the third?

Time to break Eries' heart. Again. I'm sorry, Eries.


	15. Epilogue

A/N: Wouldn't it just figure this is almost the longest part? Gah!

* * *

No one ever knew. I never told a soul.

And so no one came to me to tell me when he didn't return.

And I had no one to cry to when Van and Hitomi came back…without him.

Hitomi told Millerna, Allen, and I about how brave Folken had been, how he had killed Dornkirk, and by some strange trick of fate, the tip of his sword had broken and ricocheted back to him, piercing his heart.

She spoke with tears in her eyes, Van's hand on her shoulder, and her arm across her chest, her fingers twined with his there.

Millerna and Allen simply looked down, speechless. I held Van's gaze, and willed my lip not to tremble, my eyes not to give me away. I think he suspected something, though perhaps not even he knew what.

Van left Hitomi with Millerna when he went back to retrieve his brother's body. He was going to take him back to Fanelia – back to where his family was.

And eventually, things started to go back to normal – if ever there was a normal to go back to.

Allen took leave of the Caeli while he got his sister settled at the estate, Millerna threw herself into the work that Dryden had left behind, and spoke little of him. My father did not improve overmuch, but neither did he get worse. Millerna feared he would never leave that bed, and I just hoped he would hang on a little bit longer. I wasn't ready for more death.

And it was months before I let anyone in again.

# # # # #

"I'm going to Fanelia."

"Why?" Millerna had given up the dresses, and simply went around in blouses and short pants – a wardrobe my father was vehemently against, but had stopped arguing about long ago.

"I…I have some unfinished business."

She cocked an eyebrow at me. "With Van?"

"No."

"Eries…"

"I'll be gone for two weeks, Millerna, no more than that."

"How are you getting there?"

"There are ships leaving the harbor every day. I'll find passage on one of them."

"You should…Allen has the _Crusade_."

"Millerna, the _Crusade_ is not at the beck and call of the House of Aston," I frowned.

"Allen would take you," she said softly.

I didn't want to know how she came to that conclusion.

"Two weeks," I said, and turned and left the room. My bags were packed, I merely had to find a ship that was stopping in Fanelia and get them to take me along.

I enlisted a page to carry my bag to the harbor. I was straightening the veil on my hat when he came into my room.

"Princess."

I turned. "Allen."

"Eries. Your sister. Millerna. She said you were going to Fanelia."

"I am."

"Without an escort, Princess?"

"I'll be fine, Allen."

The page was waiting in the hallway. Allen turned and left, and I thought our conversation was over. Instead, he returned, my bag in his hand.

"What are you doing?"

"I'll take you. On the _Crusade_."

"Allen, it's not a state affair. It's personal business. I can take a merchant vessel."

"Princess, we're friends, right? Let me take you."

We had been working on repairing our relationship, yes, but I wasn't sure if we were friends yet. I certainly wasn't ready to tell him why I was going to Fanelia.

I had visited Celena often, at Allen's request, and found comfort in her silence. I sat with her for hours at a time, while Allen was away, and she seemed to revel in just lying on her stomach in the grass, watching the butterflies and bugs jump around. She stuck her nose in flowers, and was surprised when she sneezed.

Sometimes she would ask me questions, like where Allen had gone, and why was the sky blue. My answers to the former always satisfied her, but my gradually more creative answers to the latter still seemed to leave her wanting.

"Allen, I know you have better things to do than play ferry captain."

He smiled. "Maybe I don't. Maybe it doesn't matter."

I relented, and he carried my bag out to the leviship docks.

Gaddes tugged his forelock at me. "Princess."

"Sergeant."

"Ready to go, Boss?"

"Set sail, Gaddes."

And Gaddes disappeared into the bowels of the ship. Allen led me to a cabin, and opened the door for me, following me in with my bag. He set it on the bed. I turned to look at him, and wondered what he was waiting for.

"Will this do, Princess?"

I smiled. "Of course, Allen. I really appreciate this, you know. You didn't have to do this."

He waved me off. "Nonsense." He rocked back on his heels once, and then took a deep breath. "Okay, well, if you need anything, Princess, just call."

He turned to leave.

"Eries, Allen. You can call me Eries."

# # # # #

Van greeted me warmly when I arrived, though he seemed surprised.

"Princess Eries, I…wasn't expecting you."

I nodded once. "King Van, I will be here for but a short time. I have just a quick stop to make."

"Of course, Princess. Make yourself at home." He stared at the flowers in my hands. "Anything…I can help you with?"

I nodded. "Your brother…"

He looked confused for a moment, before a sad smile played across his lips. "Of course, Princess."

He led me to the woods behind the castle, to a small cemetery, where his mother and father…and his brother lay.

"I'll leave you alone, then," he said softly.

"Thank you, Van."

He just nodded, and went back the way we'd come.

I sat back on my knees, the flowers laid across my lap. A soft breeze brushed my face, and I closed my eyes to it. I could almost hear his whistle on the wind, the same sad song…always the same song.

I didn't blame him – it had simply been a matter of getting away to be able to come here to see him. I told him of the rebuilding going on everywhere in Gaea – that we were at peace. Never once did I say that I missed him.

I leaned forward to lay the bundle of pink flowers on his grave.

"One who will never be forgotten."

I did not turn and face the Caeli Knight, simply nodded.

"I misjudged him."

"We all did."

"You never did. You always stood up for him. I should have known."

"Known?"

"That you were in love with him."

I wanted to try and deny it, but I was suddenly too tired to worry about what anyone else thought. I closed my eyes and hung my head.

"Eries, I'm sorry."

"Sorry, Allen?"

"I'm sorry that I pushed you away. I could have been there for you, I could have been there to listen." He knelt in the grass beside me, and put his hand on my shoulder. I put my hand on top of his, thankful for his presence.

"What's done is done, Allen. I'll waste no more time regretting the past."

"What are you doing now?"

"Now…now I'm honoring the past." I reached out with my other hand and fingered the petals. "One who will never be forgotten."

Allen's arm slid around my shoulder, and I leaned into him. He held me there, at the grave of Folken Fanel, and my heart was at peace.

* * *

A/N: Well? To say that this is a different story than I intended to write would be an understatement. But I feel that the characterization is much better than what I had originally planned. I hope that this is an ending that at least most people are happy with - I know I could never make _everyone_ happy.

A big thanks to all my reviewers - you kept me writing when I got stuck. Even though this story just flew onto the page, there were still a couple of hiccups.

Long live the memory of Folken Fanel.


End file.
